Bristol comes but once a year. Well, at least in terms of the Bristol Expo it does. I like Bristol in May. I like the canal walk. I like the Old Fish Market. Dammit I’ve even been known to walk through the old cemetery on a sunny day in May and feel strangely but appropriately inspired. Last Expo was something of an eye opener. David Lloyd had a friendly go at me. He said I was a good writer, but needed to apply myself more. It wasn’t enough to do little bits of writing here and there, fitting it in when I had the time. I had to make time. And you know what, it was the kick up the backside I needed. I found the extra hours. I get up earlier in the morning and write later in the night. And while I went into last year’s Expo with a heavy heart and the knowledge that the Samurai Jack work was drying up, I go into this one with 6 Cartoon Network scripts under my belt (Ben 10 and Generator Rex, each one 8-10 pages long). I also have 'Savant' scheduled to appear in the upcoming Strip magazine published by Print Media Publications. More of these in future posts, but you know what, when things aren’t going for you, you just have to suck it up and, for fear of repeating myself and paraphrasing a certain Bruce Willis movie, try harder. I think I knew that, but still needed someone to remind me of the fact. So God bless David Lloyd. The sooner we give the man a knighthood the better. Join me at the Bristol Expo Sat 14th and Sun 15th May. Sir David Lloyd, the petition starts here.

Just putting the finishing touches to two strips for two very different target audiences. The first is a 'Laptop Lad' script for Sha Nazir. Sha's self-publishing this lovely little character whose head is shaped like a (you guessed it) laptop. I'd say it's 'PG' rated not by intention, but that's just the rating the character comfortably sits in. Although I've probably pushed that as far as it can go with a 'rabies/energetically brushing his teeth/causing lots of mouth foam' gag. Trust me it looks worse when you read it in isolation like that; works perfectly fine in the context of the story. Anyhoo the story is about a young overactive nephew running riot much to the amazement and despair in equal measure of his poor uncle. Good clean, hygienic even, family fun.


The other thing is a 'spec' script for 'Crossed' published by Avatar. 'Crossed' was devised and originally written by Garth Ennis; zombie-like infected taking over the world where the disease takes away all inhibitions. So a Crossed will make a gash in your body with a knife and then promptly - umm how can I put this delicately - make love to it! Impaling, Severed limbs, sodomy by blunt instrument - my spec script ticks all the boxes, but y'know I love zombie movies (the well-made ones anyway) and there's a thin line between the 'man's inhumanity to man' subtext and an excuse for good sick, filthy even, fun.


I'm reminded of Steven Spielberg who during the day filmed the holocaust horrors of 'Schindler's List' while at night edited the dinosaur romp 'Jurassic Park'. As a species we are fascinated by horror, but we only have the capacity to take so much of it. As Colonel Kurtz once so succinctly observed; where there is only horror in peoples' lives it consumes them body and soul. Maybe the world would be a better place if everyone stopped for a while, no matter what they were doing, and watched Gary Tank Commander.

Lovely innit? This is the first page of 'Savant' written by me and drawn by Spanish duo Ferrer and Vila (are they Real Madrid or Barcelona supporters? - I do not know). Full details can be found on: http://stripcomicmagazineuk.blogspot.com/2011/04/seek-out-savant.html

Bristol Comics Expo this weekend and I'll be there. Will be participating in the 'Writing for Dummies' talk at the Mercure Saturday 11am. I mean at that time in a Saturday morning is there anything else worth watching now that Jamie has left Toonattik? If you can't make it this is what I'll be saying in a nutshell: "writing is all very well, writing for comics more so, but in the meantime get a real job sukka!" It's my first Bristol show in 4 years. I'm a-looking forward to it!

The latest Aku's Fairy Tale tells of a thumb-sized Jack who has, you know, issues. No creator credits on this one, an oversight, but it rarely happens and to be honest I'm not too worried. In any case everyone knows it's written by me. I mean come on who else would come up with the line: "Alas, his father was so poor he did not have two peas to put in a pod." International bankers should hang their heads in shame. Anyhoo 'Thumbling Jack' appears in Cartoon Network Action Pack #47 published by DC. Occasionally one hears talk of a Samurai Jack movie. Now wouldn't that be a good thing indeed?

Watched the first episode of the new Doctor last night. The highlight was by way of introduction having him taste various foodstuffs ('you're Scottish fry me something' - classic) before settling on fish fingers and custard. I also liked 'the corner of your eye' idea, although they could have done more with this. Doctor's new assistant seems to be a younger version of Donna, although I'm not complaining that much ;-)

Unfortunately the plot seemed to be taken from other episodes - the jumps in time as the Doctor first meets a character as a girl then a woman (Girl in the Fireplace), alien hiding from a galactic police force in a hospital (Smith and Jones), the Doctor using a phone to hack into some world network or other (did it to the Cybermen in Age of Steel, did it to Master with the Archangel Network) and I know his speech at the end where he tells an alien race that the earth is protected is a direct reference to David Tennant warning off the Sycorax in The Xmas Invasion, but it just seemed to force us to compare the new Doctor with the old one (at the moment there isn't a comparison), which hardly seemed fair to the new boy.

Incredibly ironic that one of the most repeated shows on the BBC should recycle quite so many plot lines? Anyhoo my son David enjoyed it and now they've got that always tricky first episode out of the way it's upwards and onwards (hopefully).

The Jimbos

In advance of the big night on Sunday just a little bit of fun:

Best Picture-
'The Blind Side' hasn't been released yet. Strange one that. Perhaps they are waiting for Sandy Bullock's Oscar win to propel it along. Or maybe not. Have seen the trailer though, so it does feel like I've seen the film.

Onto the ones I have seen. Let me tell you it's not been a good year. 'Avatar' - immersive but not involving. 'District 9' - great concept but derivative. 'An Education' - didn't really go anywhere. 'Precious' - surprisingly funny in places but unremittingly bleak and not in a good way. 'Up' - I rather liked it but not great. 'A Serious Man' - quirky and bizarre but didn't go anywhere. It's getting a bit of a habit with the Coens I tells ye.
Special mention goes to 'Inglourious Basterds' and 'Up in the Air'. The former's first scene demonstrates what a terrific film maker Tarantino is, film does descend into a piss-take if a highly enjoyable one. The latter is well acted, goes off the rails a little but gets back in track - good ending.

The one standout is The Hurt Locker. Doesn't say anything new about the nature of war, but it's stylish, packs a punch and my interest never wavered.

Direction-
This reward seems so indistinguishable from Best Picture don't you think. Or it did when Mel Gibson won it for Braveheart. Special mention to Quentin for Inglourious, but the gong goes to Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker.

Actor in a Leading Role-
Acting was generally very good as it usually is. I haven't see Jeff Bridges who appears to be the shoo-in. Taking the remaining four Clooney, Firth, Freeman and Renner, I would look at the one character who undergoes the most change during the film and on that criterion I'm plumping for George Clooney in Up in the Air.

Actor in a Supporting Role-
Matt Damon deserves a mention for being completely convincing as the captain of the South African rugby team in 'Invictus'. The winner though lights up his movie every time he's on screen. That's Chistoph Waltz in no-friend-to-the-spellchecker Inglourious Basterds.

Actress in a Leading Role-
Showed enough subtlety to make the character's development believable. Step forward Gabourey Sidibe for Precious.

Actress in a Supporting Role-
This is a tough one. I can't really separate Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick (both Up in the Air) and Mo'Nique (Precious), but I'm going to plump for our Vera as she's part Ukranian.

Animated Feature -
'Up' will get it, but for me the award goes to 'Fantastic Mr Fox'.

Cinematography-The Hurt Locker

Writing - Original Screenplay- Inglourious Basterds

Writing - Adapted Screenplay- Up in the Air

Music (Original Song)- “Almost There” - The Princess and the Frog

Music (Original Score)- The Hurt Locker

Visual Effects- District 9

Art Direction- Avatar

I know we're in the technical categories but does Sound Mixing and Sound Editing merit separate categories? How can the second Transformers film be nominated for the former and not the later? Oh hell I'll give them both to Avatar. Also I thought the sound on Star Trek wasn't very good.

Makeup-

Star Trek. I thought Star Trek's green people were just as good as Avatar's blue people.

Film Editing-
I'm giving it to Precious because it relied on editing, in particular seamlessly incorporating the fantasy segments, more than any of the other categories. And for the most part it worked I think!

So tallying up we have The Hurt Locker 4, Up in the Air 3, Avatar 3, Inglourious Basterds 2, Precious 2, and with 1 each Fantastic Mr Fox, Frog and the Princess, District 9 and Star Trek.

The latest Aku's Fairy Tale 'Jack and his Shadow' appears in CNAP #46. This is an offshoot of the show where Aku narrates a tale with Jack as the bad guy. In this one drawn by Philip Moy the nefarious samurai is one of four princes. Two other princes have quite familiar names if you follow the fortunes of a certain Royal family. Striking a rather wretched figure Jack tells us early on, "No one likes me…life is so unfair…this morning an acorn fell on my head and it really hurt…" What's more it looks like Jack has no chance of winning the tournament to determine the next king; no chance that is until the intervention of his own shadow. As I describe this I can't get the image of Roger Moore out of my head. So there you have it another Aku's Fairy Tale. The best ones are where the bad guy (Jack) does a reverse-Scooby Doo and gets away with it despite those meddling kids. In this story Jack does have his comeuppance I am thoroughly ashamed to say. But there is a little twist and the story's good fun throughout and it's even got a bucking bronco! There are worse things out there - like Scotland throwing away a 10 point lead against Wales in the rugby…

Reasons to be Cheerful Part 1: the cold snap seems to have given way to the great thaw, well at least in the central belt of this place we call Scotchland. This means I only need wear three layers of clothing before contemplating visiting the local shops. Reasons to be Cheerful Part 2: 'Samurai Jack: Tower of Aku' written by me with art by 'man of 2009' Ethen Beavers out now in DC's Cartoon Network Action Pack #45. The story is inspired by the Bridge on the River Kwai. And it's got a bomb disguised as a birthday cake. Ethen has done a bang up job on this one. I have celebrated the fact by eating a fruit scone.

Happy New Year all! I know 2009 was tough for a lot of people. Let's hope things picks up in 2010. If they don't, I'm giving up this writing lark once and for all and take up being a chef.

This year from me should see more Samurai Jack and Aku Fairy Tales for DC, 'Cuckoo' to appear in Insomnia's 'Focal Point', and 'Food Chain' in four parts for Markosia. And who knows what other delights and challenges will fall my way all in the name of keeping me off the streets. It's called care in the community y'ken! Keep watching this space, well that is until the dots start to appear. Happy New Year all!

Jimbo's Top 9 of 2009 #1: 2012 Final Prayer:Manchester

Another year, another number one. 'Manchester' appears in the quite excellent Bob Heske anthology, which takes its inspiration from the Mayan prediction it'll be the end of the world as we know it (in a couple of years time). Think of the big budget movie 2012 and concept wise it's on similar lines - but please don't let this put you off the book! :-)

The remit for artist Andy Dodd and I was to create an 'end of days' riff, which we set in Manchester basing the main character a little on Morrissey. I'd just read 'I Am Legend' by Richard Matheson and I wanted to integrate into the story elements of the last man alive walking through the deserted streets. I wrote the script, but it's up and coming Andy Dodd's art and lettering that brings the strip alive. I still get one helluva kick out of the last page where we answer the question, "Will it be sudden? Will I die alone? And in Manchester?"

'Manchester' is available in e-preview form. The strip features alongside 'Harkington' by Duncan Eagleson and is well worth a gander. Click on the link below. Once there scroll down a little and click on the pale orange button that says 'launch this myebook now!' Then tell me what you think.

http://www.myebook.com/index.php?option=ebook&id=17811

Jimbo's Top 9 of 2009 #2: Samurai Jack:Like Father

I've said it before but the beauty of Samurai Jack is with one story it can be full-out action, another can be comedy, and 'Like Father' published in CN Action Pack #42. A tale from Jack's youth and his first unrequited love Anna. To impress Anna, Jack climbs the tree of wisdom and acrobatically plucks an apple from its branches. Before he can give Anna the apple, though, some older kids beat him up and take it from him. He then faces his father seemingly in disgrace.

"No...," his father says. "They took it from you, yes, but not without a struggle. I see before me not a twisted wrist but determination...I don't see a scrape to the forehead, only courage. Not a black eye, this says to me honor instead. Son, you make me proud. Never forget."

For me 'Like Father' represents what it's all about to write. To see it on the printed page makes all the sweat and tears worth it. Can't explain the sheer joy the comic page can have for one such as I, you either get it or you don't. I'm hoping it's the former! Not for the first time Ethen Beavers does a magnificent job on the art front. He is my man of the year!

Jimbo's Top 9 of 2009 #3: Calhab Justice: Hogmanay

These days a sighting of Calhab Justice is as rare as a new Hugh Grant motion picture. I mention it as much as I can get away with on this blog (initially I typed in 'blob' there, and was tempted to leave it in). It was with some surprise then when I received an e-mail from Jon Haward informing me that 'Hogmanay' was reprinted in January's Judge Dredd Xmas GN 'Season's Beatings'.

I mean wow. The story still reads well and John Ridgway's art is as superb and uncluttered and smart as ever.

One wag lamented that all 'Hogmanay' involves is some future Scottish judges in plainclothes first footing each other for New Year. Which is kind of the point really. "Japanese whisky, huh?"

Jimbo's Top 9 of 2009 #4: Aku's Fairy Tales:Sandarella:A Shoe Story

Aku's Fairy Tales is still going strong I'm happy to say. The scenario has Aku telling a fairy tale to two children that puts Samurai Jack in a bad light. The children's names are David (named after my 8 year old son) and Mya (my 6 year old niece).

Sandarella is Cinderella with talking sandals (obviously) brought to life by the superlative Philip Moy. You can find it in CN Action Pack #41. Other Aku stories are based on the Boy who cried Wolf, Sleeping Beauty, and The Labours of Hercules. Text heavy, take an eternity to write, will probably drive me mad one day, but I just absolutely love doing 'em!

Jimbo's Top 9 of 2009 #5: Camp Lazlo:Food Fight Frenzy!

Another opening strip this time for CN Block Party #59, which was the last issue before cancellation. I was a regular contributor, my two main strips being Johnny Bravo and Camp Lazlo. Oh how I loved writing Johnny Bravo. Oh how I lived and breathed the dude. My favourite line: 'Man I'm so hungry I could eat a diplodocus!'

As for 'Food Fight Frenzy!', here's a wee bit of dialogue to give you a - ahem - flavour. "Hmm...is that the sizzle of ham I can smell? And the cooking of baked beans, and of stewed pudding...all rounded off the pungent odor of stale armpit sweat...? Oh the horror, the horror." Messily (but in a good way) drawn by Mike Kazaleh.

Jimbo's Top 9 of 2009 #6: Layer Zero:Beautiful People

'Beautiful People' is the opening story of Layer Zero: Choices, the annual anthology published by the good folks of Insomnia. Have another two scripts in the bag for Insomnia; 'Growing Pains' for next year's anthology and the 30-page 'Cuckoo' due to appear in 'Focal Point'. We're still looking for an artist on the latter if anyone is interested.

As for number 6 in the list, here's the official blurb: "This is a story of the ‘Beautiful People’, one actor, one actress, two fabulous film stars, who come together in a tidal wave of mutual attraction and self-preservation. It is the ‘Beautiful People’ who rule the world. Essentially a love story, but one in which we ask the questions what keeps them together and what drives them on? Sometimes it’s only an act of terrible violence and sickening cruelty that brings out the best in them. It is only then that we get to see what's inside." Art by Dean Stahl. Sorted!

Jimbo's Top 9 of 2009 #7: Spider-Man & Captain Britain:Blast to the Past

This little beauty has been reprinted several times both sides of the pond. You can catch it in this year's 'Marvel Europe TP'. Originally intended as a means of introducing Captain Britain to a new generation of British comic readers, the re-emergence of the good Captain at the time created quite a lot of hype on t'internet. Quite overwhelming it was. It didn't make myself or artist Jon Haward superstars, but hey it was good the 48 hours or so it lasted.

The story itself has Cap and Spidey up against nasty Nazi the Red Skull armed with the cosmic cube. I suppose the strength of the story lies in how effectively I weaved the origin of Captain Britain into the main plot. It probably irritates the hell out of those who already know it, but to be fair they were never intended to be the target audience. I wrote a follow-up for Panini/Marvel UK, again drawn by Jon, reuniting Cap and Spidey against the Fury this time. Far superior in every way, it was subsequently unheralded and consequently sank without a trace. Now there's a hidden gem worth digging for should you ever have the inclination.

Jimbo's Top 9 of 2009 #8: Heavy Metal Dredd:Kiss of Death

A strange year that saw two of my old Judge Dredd Megazine strips reprinted. One appears in 'Heavy Metal Dredd' a graphic novel published by Rebellion. Originally Heavy Metal was an uncensored take on Judge Dredd, but as time passed became a showcase for artists Simon Bisley and John Hicklenton. I worked on 'Kiss of Death' with the latter. I have a lot of time for John's work and his overlapping mosaic long-limbed style approach. Featuring rampaging psychotic mutant kissergrams, what we have is an elaborate excuse to build up to a killer last line. Which I won't give you here. Ask me next time you bump into me.

Jimbo's Top 9 of 2009 #9: Samurai Jack:No Refund

Appearing in DC's 'Cartoon Network Action Pack' #39, 'No Refund' pits Samurai Jack against a trader refusing to give dear old Jack a refund no matter how faulty the force field cloak/grappling gun/escape compass he sold him. Oh and there are robot pirates, which say things like 'Ye swarthy dog! I'll sort ye out with this mechanical axe!' What's not to like? Art by the supremely talented Ethen Beavers.

It's that time again. Time to prepare for the end of year festivities and mass Irn Bru and shortbread consumption. Time to look back at the year and revel in one's achievements and forgive one's odd indiscretion here or there. Oh and time for Jimbo's Top 9 of 2009. And I can exclusively reveal there's been enough material published (or re-published) in 2009 to justify another Top 9 featuring everyone's 25th favourite comics writer ranging from Spider-Man to Judge Dredd to Samurai Jack. Please note boy and girls with the exception of Nos. 1 & 6 (which are creator owned) each comic strip listed is copyright its respective publisher. So without further avail…